As tensions on its
borders grow, so do rivalries among Israel's defense
industries... Iron
Fist VS
Me'il Ruach(export =
Trophy)

Behind the scenes of IDF's
decision to deploy Rafael-developed Trophy tanks along
the Gaza border, company's rival Israel Military
Industries is fighting for survival.

Israel
Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi
disclosed December 2010 that for the first
time, Hamas fired an
advanced Russian-made Kornet missiles from
the Gaza Strip, earlier in the month and
damaged an IDF Merkava tank.
There were no injuries. Such anti-tank
capability has, up to now, belonged only to
Syria and Hezbollah northern fronts.

Because of this new development with Kornet
threats, one of the two new
Merkava IV BAZ
battalions
has been deployed to the Gaza theater under
the command of Lt Colonel Itai Brin of
Battalion 9 which
has "A" type of
Merk IV BAZ
tanks that been
upgraded with the Active Protective System
ADDED onto
their existing turrets. The 2nd battalion of
"B" tanks remains on the Golan Plateau with
'Integrated' APS
systems in place. Mk 4 BAZ variants: in

"Before General TAL passed away in 2010 he
said in a Defense Review interview that he
seriously thought that Rafael should on
their own, offer to merge with IMI in the
area of the Active Protective Technologies
much like IAI and Tadiran was forced to do
in
the 1970's for UAV production, development,
research and world wide marketing. This
makes very practical sense on hind sight
as IMI was in 1990 the original developer of
the APS system for naval craft and armor
vehicles when they hit a brick wall trying
to
find a way not to attack friendly firing
vehicles on a crowded & confusing
battlefield. That is when Rafael stepped in
and many of
the IMI personnel came over to the new
Rafael program. In fact it was announced in
the October 1999 Bahamaneh article on the
forth coming new Merkava Mark IV for the
following decade would incorporate an APS
system that was still under development."

Whether one chooses to call this APS system
TROPHY, or the acronym ASPRO which Rafael
tried but failed to impress anyone
or even the short lived WINDBREAKER which
foreigners made fun of with it's reference
to breaking wind, the useless and little
relevant meaning TROPHY still lingers while
in Israel the Israeli local name Me'il Ruach
has
NO correct
pronunciation!

In
view of this new threat, IDF has decided to
deploy along the Gaza border one of two tank
battalions that is
equipped with the Me'il Ruach
Active Protective System (APS),
an Israeli sophisticated technology used
against
anti-tank weapons (marketed abroad under the
name Trophy), which was developed by Rafael
Advanced
Defense Systems for the past decade. The
image of burned-out tanks destroyed by
missiles during the Second
Lebanon War is still fresh in Israel's
collective psyche. Me'il Ruach
provides substantive defense against such
attacks - and makes a good impression in
photographs as well.

Meanwhile, behind
the scenes, a tough battle is being waged
between two state-owned defense industries.
One,
Rafael, is at the cutting edge of technology
& has been selected to engage in this
special tank-defense project for
the international market; the project has
the potential of bringing in hundreds of
millions of dollars in revenues
(each such system costs an estimated
$200,000 to $300,000 U.S. dollars). On the
other side is Israel Military
Industries, a company that has floundered
for years and is now fighting for survival.

Last summer, the
Defense Ministry decided to suspend its
investment in a competitive system called
Iron Fist,
developed by rival IMI, which would provide
special defense to armored personnel
carriers (APCs ). IMI had
viewed this as its flagship project for
years to come. For his part, Defense
Minister Ehud Barak is expected to
hold additional discussions on this subject
before the subject is closed.

Concurrently, the
State Comptroller's Office has received
inquiries from concerned citizens about
these two
projects and seems inclined to launch an
investigation about how decisions were made
with respect to their
development. Despite the IDF and Defense
Ministry argument that the Me'il Ruach
is ready for
use and better
suited for conditions in the field (a
controversial claim ), it's hard to dismiss
the time factor involved: The process
of outfitting tanks with Me'il Ruach
is gradual and
protracted. At that rate, it could take
years before the IDF
infantry will benefit from comparable sorts
of defense systems. Senior retired officers
claim that the fact that it
takes so long to install the Me'il Ruach
will cost
the army lives during the next round of
warfare. Officials in the
Defense Ministry tend to disagree. The IDF
gave the Go-Ahead anyway on the TEFEN
2006-2012 contract.
So as of middle of 2011 over 100 Merks have
been produced and are in various stages of
introduction, battle
field testing and deployed. Most are Add-On
'M'
version with 30 of the BAZ Beth
following @ 60 per annum.

The massive 2006 to
2012 TEFEN multi billion dollar multi year
IDF up-grade program gave the armor corps'
entire fleet of Merk 4's to be brought up to
the latest in cutting edge standards of:
LIC type urban combat tank
configurations, anti IED Thor systems, anti
attack helicopter gun ship FCS systems, GPS
global positioning
systems, net centric joint service
communication and control systems, UAV
attack and surveillance autonomous
systems (both On-Board and tertiary origin
equipment from 2nd and third sources), new
technology ammunition
which APAM is just one of a family of new
projectiles, counter battery direction Fire
Detectors (Droid) and the
least reported but, potentially most
dramatic change is in the area of Combat
Field Tactics & Tank Maneuvers.

Since the early
1990s, local defense experts have been
considering the development of systems that
would block
anti-tank missiles fired against armored
vehicles, but interest picked up in the
aftermath of the debacles in Lebanon.
Merkava 4 is considered the world's most
crew protected tank, yet military experts
recognize the vulnerability of it
and other models in the face of advanced
anti-tank missiles. Israel's urgent search
for defensive mechanisms is
proceeding in tandem with that of Western
armies that are dealing with field
conditions in the Persian Gulf. Rafael
was the first company in the world to
furnish a workable solution. Russia's Arena
was and still is a tank failure.

The green light for
the procurement of the Me'il Ruach
Merkava tanks
was given around the time of the Second
Lebanon War in 2006. In parallel, IMI
offered its rival system, the Iron Fist.
Regarded by outside experts as
"brilliant in its simplicity, cheap and
particularly effective," the latter system
was first assembled in the spring of
2009. Then-deputy IDF chief Major General
Dan Harel decided that it would be used for
the army's growing fleet
of heavy Namer APCs. For development, the
Defense Ministry allocated tens of millions
of shekels to IMI. TEFEN
Allocations received by Rafael were greater,
however. The day Harel announced his
decision, several IMI executives
gathered to celebrate at a local bar (some
were stopped by police on the way home, on
suspicion of drunk driving).

Above in the frontal attack is the 'M'
version of an Up-Graded
Merkava IV BAZ
current tank brought up to current Mk IV
standards

In June 2010, IMI
received an official document from the
ministry's bureau for arms development,
declaring that the
Iron Fist had been deemed suitable for
full-scale development, though it called
for various improvements in the system.
Then, a month later, IMI officials detected
a change of attitude. The official
announcement came at the end of August:
Ministry was suspending development of Iron
Fist, arguing that it was not battle worthy.
In the future, IMI was told,
Iron Fist and Me'il Ruach
would be
merged, in order to produce the next
generation of protective systems for Namers.

Rafael, which
produces an array of missiles, has a
sterling reputation, a proven production,
marketing track record
and a management team that includes two
charismatic, influential reserve major
generals: chairman of the board
Ilan
Biran and CEO Yedidia Ya'ari.

IMI, in contrast,
is the neglected child of the defense
establishment, and suffers, unfairly, from a
negative reputation.
For several months now, it has not even had
an active chairman of the board. IMI is
trapped between the Defense
Ministry - which requires it to maintain an
expensive production line for heavy
ammunition, intended for emergencies
and the Finance Ministry, which wants to
privatize the company. Lurking in the
background is a worried workers
committee and real estate elements whose
eyes are peeled at the lucrative properties
on which IMI is quartered.

IMI has produced
some successful products, but is dependent
on the continued development of the Iron
Fist as a
means for survival. Defense Ministry
officials have furnished a series of
arguments for the decision in August, but
there seems to be an underlying, hidden one:
Why furnish a huge budget, for at least five
years, to a company
whose future is clouded by doubt?

Above what is normally not noticed with this
Merkava Mk IV BAZ M
version is the new battle formation tactics
being field tested
and the newer thicker, solid ballistic side
skirts. No UAV 2nd roof hatch on this unit
which applies to only 1 out of 4 per company

Reappraisal and
controversy

A reappraisal of
whether Iron Fist is indeed battle worthy
was undertaken by a team of experts that
included three
brigadier generals: Ofir Shoham, Yaron
Livnat and Eitan Eshel. On August 18,
Defense Ministry director general
Maj. Gen. (res.) Udi Shani, approved the
team's conclusions. Iron Fist, according to
IMI documents submitted to
the ministry, beats Trophy
in all respects: Its warhead and its
interception system are more effective,
cheaper and
better suited for integration with other
defense systems; and it can cope with a
whole gamut of threats and missile-
firing ranges. Its response time is quick
and it has the capability of addressing two
simultaneous threats. Iron Fist
underwent hundreds of interception tests,
some of them overseas, and succeeded in most
of them, say the
documents. Plus, interest in purchasing the
system, in the United States, Western Europe
and East Asia, is high.

In addition, Avi
Felder, IMI's CEO, claimed recently that
Iron Fist has attained field-preparedness
levels much
faster than what was anticipated by ministry
officials; production can be completed by
the end of 2011, he insisted.
Also, a recent important test of Trophy,
undertaken with a foreign country, revealed
significant malfunctions.

There are a number
of related, controversial issues in this
whole story, but it is not really possible
to render a
definitive judgment about them. There is a
long-standing debate about the replacement
of Iron Fist's radar systems,
a requirement that IMI officials complain
was coercively imposed; there is also debate
about middle-ranking officers
whose promotion has been stalled because
they publicly advocated the "wrong" defense
system. Lurking behind
everything is IMI's sense of getting the
short end of the stick.

"At play here is
structural inferiority," says an outside
observer who, like all other interviewees
for this report, spoke
on condition of anonymity. "Rafael is the
defense system's darling. Think about a
45-year-old officer who is soon to
be discharged. He would have to be a saint
to avoid thinking about who his next
employer will be, when rendering
decisions on this issue. Rafael is a much
better employment option than IMI. How does
that affect a situation in
which IMI's solution is better than
Rafael's?"

Above 1 of 'many' of the entire Mark 4 fleet
being up-graded to 2012 standards going to
Syria, Gaza and Lebanon fronts first
In the image above you can clearly now see
the thicker and all solid side skirts, anti
IED belly armor and UAV 2nd turret hatch.

A former IDF
officer, who held a top post in the IDF
General Staff, claims: "IMI's system is
clearly better than
Rafael's. Whoever says anything else is
mistaken, and has been misled. The big
scandal is that as a result of these
decisions, the Namer APC will not have a new
APS
system for years to come. That is a historic
mistake - a blunder
whose cost will be human lives."

The defense
establishment's response is summed up by a
senior official who was involved in the
decision-making
process. The Iron Fist's development and
installation process is much longer than
what IMI is suggesting, he declares:
"We have been through this with Rafael.
Three years elapsed between presentation of
proof that the technology is battle
worthy and that the system works - and
actual installation of the system on tanks.
You have to keep in mind that we are
talking about systems that work
automatically in response to threats, and
basically take decision-making power away
from the commander of the vehicle. We can't
take any risks here. Windbreaker had been
extensively tested for three
years before Iron Fist even got out of the
starting blocks. IMI's forecast about
capability within one year is unrealistic.
As time passed, we realized it would take
more time and cost more than what we
thought."

The decision, this
source claims, was well considered and
related directly to facts on the ground: "Udi
Shani
demanded
an orderly process. The team reappraised the
calculations in a systematic fashion, and
decided that
there should be a
merger, combining the huge amount of
experience accumulated by Rafael and IMI's
simpler
interception technology,
which has less test experience."

The official
acknowledges that the team's decision could
delay the installment of protective systems
on the Namer
APC, but says "this delay was necessary, in
order to assess the situation." Success in
one or another test, he adds,
does not necessarily mean that a defense
system is operational, and he dismisses
discussion of the malfunctioning
of
Rafael's Trophy
in recent tests. "Malfunctions always occur
in tests. That doesn't cast doubt on the
project."

Above new
Merkava MkIV BAZ M
under going field maneuvers on the Golan
Heights facing Syrian Nakba day border
protests

The official is
especially perturbed by claims about risks
posed to the lives of soldiers by this
bureaucratic in-
fighting.
"That is charlatanism. We are worried about
soldiers' lives as much as about anything
else. We ourselves
rescued
casualties from damaged tanks. It is easy
for retired generals to cast aspersions;
whoever doesn't have
responsibility
can say whatever he wants. The media lack
the ability to decide which side is correct
in this dispute.
Such judgment
requires knowledge of engineering and
technological matters.

Defense officials
have received strongly formulated warning
letters about the suspension of the Iron
Fist system.
Then
in November 2010, the State Comptroller's
Office started to collate these and other
documents pertaining
to this issue,
but it has yet to announce whether it will
launch a formal investigation of who is
behind this.

For their part, the
defense minister and the IDF chief of staff,
who have been at loggerheads about
innumerable
matters in recent months, concur that a
merger of the two defense systems is needed
for the Namer APC. They
also
seem to agree that IMI was nudged off the
stage in an unpleasant way and this should
be rectified.

Barak, who visited
IMI earlier this month, alluded to Iron
Fist's "interesting advantages," and has
promised to
look into
the entire subject seriously in the weeks
ahead. Up to now, discussion about merging
the systems for
the Namer have
yielded no substantive results. Neither IMI
nor Rafael is thrilled about the idea. IMI
officials
worry that Rafael is simply
waiting for Iron Fist to be shelved before
it takes control of the Namer APS
project.
Meantime, the IMI board has
decided to continue to invest in Iron Fist,
despite the suspension of government
allocations. Tests overseas in India and
USA continue, and IMI is hoping for Barak
and the Defense Ministry
to be more
supportive.

The ministry issued
a short response to this article: "The
Defense Ministry expects that the defense
industries
will not
conduct their business rivalry in the media.
Should Rafael and IMI not regroup quickly
and decide to
cooperate on the
Namer system, the ministry's director
general would be able to use his authority,
take the
project away from them and deliver it to a third company. Both
companies should recall that they are owned
by the state."

The
IMI-Rafael Active
Protective System saga is thus
far from being concluded and in months to
come it will
doubtless feature often continuing
bureaucratic and business skirmishes. JerusalemPostDec2010

This company of Merkava Mk IV's is
practicing new tactics learned during the last conflict in Lebanon 2006

Company of Merks preparing forward field observation area and making a temporary
over night camp.

These new Merkava crew men came directly to the Mark IV A from high school.
Now as
more and more new Mark IV BAZ BETH come on line with close to
400 ready by 2012. From 1999 when the first announcement
of the ordering into production of the Merkava Mark 4 Aleph long lead items till
then end of 2006 over 400 Mk
IV's were built and from 2007 till 2012 another 400 Merkava Mk IV BAZ Beth will
join the fleet. The 2007
TEFEN IDF expansion program of upgrades and new equipment will bring all Merkava
4's up to BAZ
standards

2003 Abrams VS MkIV on
Golan below...The George Bush
administration put the secrecy clamps down hard on the practice, live fire,
extraction and sentimental issues
that the theater commanders had concerns about and wanted some hands on
experience with Israeli combat crews in a hostile
terrain that existed especially on the Golan. Thus some cadre teams would pass
along vital lessons learned. This was not to be
what is popularly conjectured as a one on one Israeli tank versus a Western
tank, but crew awareness of potential battlefield
conditions to be faced and over come by the allied forces. Both teams
performed professionally. No peeking was allowed by
either military of internal tank electronic goodies. However, by the time a
third round had concluded it was felt that the sensitive
military electronics was on parity. Both gain valuable insight. The Israelis
stepped up and begun in 2006 the TEFEN 2012 plan
to major Armor system upgrades, new munitions, new strategies, new techniques
and new offensive weapon systems for armor
crews and their platforms all gleaned from the Abrams vs Merkava war gamming.
The equipment was shipped in, prepped
in port, transported via prime mover to the Golan front and deployed according to NATO C3I plans and
programs directorate.
The Red Sea port was
NOT used despite reports to the contrary either during the exercise Insertion
phase or the quick Extraction
phase. Air support from Dover AFB and Charleston AFB
via C-5B and C-17 respectively was put into
operation via Ramat David,
but mostly for crew support such as food and personal effects as well
especially equipment resupply logistics for the initial Abrams
constant malfunctions and
break downs when it came to the suspension system. I was able to debrief all my
personnel in country
and hand carried my reports
back to JCS at the Pentagon where they were immediately acted upon.

There were many things that would have made life easier, lives safer and
casualties fewer had we been able to take advantage
of the many Israeli technologies, break-throughs, military R&D; but politics
prevented that from happening. Sad to say on hind
sight. Some secret development work that we wanted was absolutely stupid that we
could not get it because as it turned out a
lot was actually paid for the U.S. taxpayer, was being produced by USA companies
in Israel or in some cases wanted to just
"Give It To Us" but our state department had their own agenda as usual. One
example; artificial blood. How life saving could that
have been? Dumb Dumb Dumber state department lackeys. A weapon system that MELTS
IED's. Anything valuable there?
How about 8 years ago? The list goes on forever. BTW, there ARE images of
the Abrams & Merks together. It is just that we
get More P.R. political hassles...

Here are some 2012 images of converted 1999 through 2006 Merkava Siman Arba's:

These all show an
ASPRO -C
(Armor
Shield
PROtection
- series
C)
Add-On Trophy Systems along with other Up-Grades.